COLUMBIA -- Republicans today criticized the Obama administration's decision to halt plans to make Yucca Mountain in Nevada a permanent nuclear waste storage facility, and outlined legal and legislative options to fight the administration's decision.
Gov. Mark Sanford threatened to take legal action against the federal government if the White House does not reverse its position by the end of the month. And Sen. Greg Ryberg, R-Aiken, said he plans to introduce legislation to divert payments flowing from the state to the federal government so that South Carolina can create a fund for its own waste-storage purposes.
"We have 30 years of science and probably millions of man hours and woman hours that have gone into the science of Yucca Mountain as a permanent depository," said Ryberg.
"We probably have 10 minutes in a poll that decided it wasn't good for the sitting (U.S. Senate) majority leader for Yucca Mountain to be pursued," he said, referring to Democratic Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada.
"The people of Aiken and neighboring counties have worked for decades at the Savannah River Site to assist the federal government while it developed Yucca Mountain," said Ryberg, adding that his resolution will end any future payments toward a permanent repository for the federal government, directing part of the money to a new state fund "to pay for a different permanent storage solution that we must obviously find for ourselves."
The press conference Tuesday included Republican U.S. Reps. Joe Wilson of the 2nd congressional district and Gresham Barrett of the 3rd district. Barrett was one of a handful of Republican candidates running for governor and other offices who attended the Tuesday press conference.
Reach Sarita Chourey at sarita.chourey@morris.com or (803) 727-4257
South Carolina has accepted nuclear wastes from all over the world for decades. Yucca Mt. was the solution that we all paid for in our electric bills for many years. It's flat out wrong to let Harry Reid shut down this billion dollar project.
RM is correct. Every customer of a power company that has nuclear reactors has paid for disposal fees for at least the past 20 years. They money went directly to the federal government through electric bills, and they used it to pay Medicaid instead of putting the money into the waste repository. It's now time to refund the money via our electric bills.
Justus4, Yucca Mountain is in Nevada. Lord please help us.
justus - You win the prize. Now go sit in the corner with your new hat and be proud!
i think the point of the story is that...... if yucca mountain is closed or not usable then the whole idea of Obama saying he is going to give money for nuclear energy is a bunch of B.S. because you have to have somewhere to put the waste. 3 decades and a lot of money have been spent on yucca, it would be a waste not to use it. but then again, these are democrats we are talking about.
Petey and riverman. As staunch advocates for "states rights" aren't you being a little hippocritical about Nevada not wanting trash from another state? Can't have it both ways, you either believe in states rights or you don't. Couldn't resist guys. Personally if they opened Yucca Flats it would probably improve the lives of folks that live within fifty miles of the place. Further, it would probably be the safest and most tested place on earth.
dissman - I don't think so in this case since it's a federal initiative that has received funding from affected states for many years (decades). This is one of the few things the federal government needs to oversee. They are empowered by the Constitution to oversee the dealings between the states. Not every state has the geological features to make such a project possible.
If the authority to approve the construction of reactors was delegated to the state level, then we might have something to discuss. "You created it, you store/dispose of it". This program is entirely under the purview/oversight of the federal government (as it should be).
AZ NV CA NY WY etc they're all interchangeable, right? As devqur1 wrote, "Lord please help us."! At least sheds light on the level of credence that should be afforded the blather of justus4 in these forums.
Yuccca Mountain has been under research for decades. That's multiples of 10's for people that do not understand the concept of decades. For a government that wants to create jobs, put your money where you mouth is. I've worked in the nuclear industry. It's safe. To use a democrat word, 'you people' are ignorant. 'You people' being those against nuclear power.
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